Re: [Chrysler300] A Question About Parts Cars

[Josh Mishler <mister300d@xxxxxxxxx>]

I have to agree with just about everyone who has made
a comment on this topic.  I understand why percentages
are irrelevant and also the validation of using a New
Yorker to restore a 300.  However, I watch the car
market very close and I am always in search of a good
50's Chrysler.  I come across at least 3 times the
amount of 57 300s than I do New Yorkers.  The 300 has
had a better survival rate, mostly because it was a
prized car when new and people believed on taking care
and hanging on to such a car.  The New Yorkers on the
other hand were more of a classy family car that would
eventually find their demise in the salvage yard.  I
have no problem using a stripped New Yorker or
Saratoga to restore a 300.  My grandfather and I have
done this and I am sure others have too.  However, if
you find a good driving '57 New Yorker, you should
hold on to and keep it the way it is.  Currently there
are a number more of 300s being restored and saved
over the New Yorker.  This is done mostly in part of
their significance and low production numbers. 
Although I am sure somewhere there is a guy restoring
a New Yorker, but he is one of a few.  In a few more
years the New Yorker will be the rarest of the '57
models, thus making them valuable.  I'm willing to bet
that if you looked at auction results of the last ten
years you would find that a '57 New Yorker convertible
will bring more money than a '57 300 drop top.  Okay
so what is my point and where was I heading with all
this?  Well I guess I am curious if in say 20 years
collectors will be searching for the ultra rare 57 300
or if they will be wishing they had a 57 New Yorker. 
Please don't take this as a knock on the 300.  I am
just suggesting that we should try and save as many
mid to late 50's Mopar 2-doors and convertibles as
possible, regardless of their badging. 

Josh Mishler

--- Michael Reed <mrreed@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> I don't believe it is appropriate, in this instance,
> to discuss survival rates in terms of percentages.
> 
> To make my case, take the numbers to a bit more
> extreme than the reality. Assume for the sake of
> debate there had been three 300's and 100,000 New
> Yorkers manufactured in a given year. One 300 and
> 1,000 New Yorkers have survived the junk yard
> crusher. The survival rate for the 300's is 33% and
> 1% for the New Yorkers. The 300 has a survival rate
> 33 times that of the New Yorkers. 
> 
> If a second 300 is found, based on the 1% survival
> rate of the New Yorker, there would not seem to
> justification for the use of a single New Yorker to
> permit the restoration of the 300.
> 
> Mike Reed in Lake Odessa, Michigan
> 
>   ----- Original Message ----- 
>   From: MITCHELLEINSAUK@xxxxxxx 
>   To: chrysler300@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
>   Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2007 4:46
>   Subject: [Chrysler300] A Question About Parts Cars
> 
> 
>   Hi all,
> 
>   I enjoy reading members input on the 300 list
> server, and have received some 
>   welcome help and advice myself, over the years, so
> excuse this indulgence, 
>   but I couldn't help but play devils advocate for a
> moment:
> 
>   John Hartford's message about both an Imperial and
> 1957 New Yorker 2-door 
>   that he knows of for sale, has finally motivated
> me to ask this question of 
>   fellow list server users. I've often seen
> reference made to the availability of 
>   a decent parts car like a 2-door Saratoga, or New
> Yorker, as the basis for a 
>   thorough restoration of a sister 300 letter series
> with terminal body rust or 
>   accident damage. As both a 300 letter series owner
> (albeit "only" a 300L), 
>   and an owner of a '57 New Yorker, I often ponder
> the wisdom of dismantling a 
>   perfectly sound New Yorker, as an example, to save
> a sister 300 letter series 
>   car. 
> 
>   Now this may sound like heresy given both my
> audience, and the special 
>   appeal that letter series cars have rightly
> attracted from the first day the 
>   rolled off the showroom floor. And granted, the
> numbers of letter series cars 
>   built have always been very low. However, while
> there were undoubtedly far more 
>   New Yorkers built (as an example) it is my
> perception that very few have 
>   survived or been restored. In fact, I would guess
> that the survival rate of the 
>   letter series cars is, as a percentage of those
> originally built, among the 
>   highest of all American collector cars, while I
> would imagine New Yorkers (and 
>   particularly the late fifties Exner cars) are
> among the rarest. Of course, 
>   value wise, even if all late fifties Exner styled
> cars are gaining in value, 
>   obviously, they can't hold a candle to the more
> specialised letter series cars, 
>   but just maybe our hobby is about more than just
> monetary value.
> 
>   Of course, in the end, members may argue, with
> good cause, that the lack of 
>   restored New Yorkers (as an example) is just a
> reflection of a lack of 
>   interest, and this is the way of the world. On the
> other hand it might be because 
>   most rusted out very early on, and the Hemi V-8
> was pulled by hot rodders and 
>   drag racers in the sixties.
> 
>   Just an observation from the "other side of the
> pond." 
> 
>   Geoff Mitchell
> 
>   Penshurst House,
>   163 Fleet Road,
>   Farnborough, Hants, GU14 9SL, England,
> 
>   Tel: +44 (0)1252 519 294
>   Fax: +44 (0)1252 519 894
>   Mobile: +44 (0)7770 376813
>   E-mail: mitchelleinsauk@xxxxxxx
> 
> 
> 
> [Non-text portions of this message have been
> removed]
> 
> 



       
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